No-Fly, No-Buy Isn’t Just Unconstitutional, It’s Stupid Too

I am fingerprinted, background-checked, and licensed from three states to carry a concealed weapon covering 35+ states. Oregon required a mental health background statement from Idaho. I have NRA-certified competency training. I occasionally train with a local constitutional militia. I have a gun trust on file with the ATF to which NFA items are registered and tax-stamped. I have no criminal history outside of motor vehicle violations.

Yet… I could wrongfully land on a watch-list and be denied the right to continue to acquire weapons… catch this people… FROM A DEALER. I can’t speak for very many other states, but in Idaho, private sales are cash and carry.

The entire, “let’s hold up sales to people on a watch-list” is fundamentally flawed for Constitutional reasons: there is no due process for landing on that list and no clear path for review and removal. But let’s just also talk about sensibility.

If a bad guy is delayed on the 4473 with the dealer, he or she can, in most states, just buy a long gun through a private sale. So how effective is this really going to be?

You have a government full of semi-autonomous agencies that can raise a flag for any reason they want without affording their victim due process. That person is now barred from buying weapons and potentially flying until they exert the effort to jump through a set of as-of-yet undefined hoops to get their name cleared. Meanwhile, Mr. ISIS buys his long gun from a guy who needs to pay bills and rents a car or takes a bus to his destination.

Taking it a step farther, because we all know the government will, I don’t want people like Harry [email protected]!%& Reid… who declares protesters at the Bundy Ranch to be “domestic terrorists” to have any weight or influence in how guns are lawfully acquired by the average citizen. If all he has to do is flip his pen or open his craphole to get people on a watchlist because he doesn’t like their social or political stance, then we might as well deploy a giant slip and slide than ends on a cliff-face and all don our favorite bathing suit. This proposition isn’t a slippery slope… it’s a death sentence for rights.

Giving the government the ability to “delay” firearms purchases for people on a list that they create without due process won’t stop terror; it will be used to control weapons for law abiding citizens. They won’t stop at delays… next they’ll say, “shouldn’t we also make sure they don’t have any weapons?”.

Don’t think that’s plausible? Have a look at the stats for how the Patriot Act was used. By and large, people targeted had no identifiable connection to terrorism.

Anthony Dephue

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